josephine teo

Our reader notes that Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, who has been nominated at Singapore's 10th Speaker, will thus be out of the running to be our next PM. This leaves us with Heng Swee Keat, Lawrence Wong, Ng Chee Meng, Chan Chun Sing and Ong Ye Kung. He thinks this is all very well-planned and calculated.

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Josephine Teo just got a promotion to become Singapore's 2nd full minister in the Prime Minister's Office. Here are some of her most memorable quotes which showcased her capabilities and great understanding of the people's worries.

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Associate Professor Daniel Goh made an articulate presentation of the Workers’ Party’s proposal for a Redundancy Insurance scheme in Parliament today. Minister Josephine Teo responded that redundancy insurance schemes may reduce the incentive of the workers made redundant to find a new job.

But wouldn't some breathing room on day to day expenses (capped to 6 months) allow the laid-off worker to find a job with a better fit? And does it do the employer any good to hire someone who has accepted a job she does not like out of financial pressure? That employee may not fully commit to that job and focus on finding the job she wants, which does not make for good productivity for the company.

Minister Teo also said that the true cost of redundancy insurance may not be the 0.1% of wages in the WP proposal; it could be 1.5% as in Korea, or more. But she did not explain by what mechanism premiums and pay-outs would inflate by 10 times from the level we suggested. By the same token, we should not have introduced Com-care since the Com-care disbursement level may inflate by 10 or more times to European levels, which represent the “true cost” of such welfare schemes.

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I refer to the article “Irate residents query manufacturer about lift breakdowns” (Straits Times, Apr 9). It states that “Mrs Teo also said the performance of the lifts serving the three 40-storey Natura Loft blocks was unacceptable.

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According to a viral video on vidsee (link removed), a Singaporean resident of a HDB flat got a shock when she saw a young couple passionately making it out at the staircase of her block. She used her handphone to video the incident. Indeed the couple was so obsessed that they continued what they were doing, even when the lady asked them "What are you doing?"

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I read Josephine Teo's recent Facebook post of her son serving NS with mixed feelings. On one hand, I am proud that I am part of a system where the young men of our country can come together, regardless of race, and serve the country.

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So the problem with Jo Teo's comments isn't that they are offensive; it's that they're incoherent and inconsistent. They represent a kind of wishful thinking - of wanting your cake and eating it too, of wanting to see social change without engaging in the necessarily far-reaching policy changes needed to bring about that change. They also represent a kind of denial- a denial of the fact that our economic inequality, the state's paternalism and its overwhelming emphasis on individual responsibility are, in fact, major causes of our low fertility.

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Yesterday, many of you shared a statement by Minister of State Josephine Teo which said that couples did not need much space for sex and many of your readers threw shade at her. I am not sure if you read her full interview but your websites and readers have misunderstood and misquoted her statement. Most likely you have not even seen her interview and the context in which she said the phrase. Editors, you are malicious or grossly playful and did not bother with context.

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Social media was abuzz with The Straits Times coverage of my interview. They might not have captured everything in the way I intended. But in all seriousness, we need an honest conversation on how, as a society, we can get ready for Millennial families.

Every way I turn, I see more of our Millennials boldly stepping up to overturn long-held assumptions about what #Singaporeans can and cannot achieve. They inspire me a great deal. You probably know such Millennials too.